Tuesday, 29 May 2012

May Releases for Infinity!

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Share it Please

Surprisingly Corvus Belli has revealed their May releases for Infinity on a Monday! Traditionally it's been on Fridays and lately Wednesdays I believe, but hey... I'm not complaining. As is normal these days they were first shown at CB's Facebook page which hopefully will allow their main page to stay up when they're revaled there tomorrow.

So let's have a look shall we?

First of we finally have the Dozer Field Engineer with Traktor Mul control Device (can you stop nagging now, Ariadna players?). The sculpt is fairly modest with a just-standing-around kind of pose, but I really like it. I'm a big fan of most things Ariadna so that shouldn't come as a surprise I guess. I like all the extra gear he's carrying and also that the control device is big and bulky, which fits Ariadna! The balaclava is a nice touch as well. In game you need him to field Traktor Mul Remotes since Ariadna don't have any Hackers (well, besides this one of course), besides that he's a pretty regular Engineer, although with the Courage skill as well which could be helpful at times.

Then we have a resculpt of the Nomad Daktari and the Nomad Support Pack including a Clockmaker and two Zondbots as well. I think the old Daktari is one of the worst models of the Infinity range so the resculpt is certainly welcome! This Daktari looks a lot more like a doc in hurry rather than a weird pose for furries. So thumbs up! If I ever get her some experimentation with leaning her forwards a bit might be in order as she's posed rather upright as is. She looks good like this, but that might give more of a running at full tilt kind of feel to her.

The Support Pack is to be expected and I'm guessing we'll see one each month from now on. Just like last month's Yu Jing pack it might not be the most exciting release, but a welcome one nonetheless. Some people don't like the Clockmaker and his baggy pants, but I think it's a nice sculpt with character. Rules wise there's nothing special about these troops, they're simply Engineers and Doctors (and Servants) but are always good to have around.

With this release of the Pan Oceania Mulebots all the Baggageremotes are available. I'm really looking forward to seeing how they (and doctors and engineers) will feature in the upcoming scenario book! I quite like the PanO remotes and these are no exception. Very beetle like! Good to have in game to hold out longer before your troops retreat and EVO Repeater and Minesweeper have obious utility value while the Total Reaction version works well as a cheap watchdog.

The Malignos Hacker was not something I had expected but is of course a welcome sight even so. The very alien looking Shasvaasti has a lot of great sculpts I think and this is definitely one of them. The visor and tech glove marks him as a hacker and the neat disco pose marks him as a fiend at the dance floor! When I get my Shasvaasti sectorial rolling I'll name mine Tony. Shasvaasti often have a kind of lo-tech look so it's nice being able to break it up with some cool gadgets like this! In game the Malignos can be quite a nasty pain in the ass for your opponent: TO: Camo, InfiltrationandAutoMedkit?! Yes please! Add some Antipersonnel Mines and you have a unit that can be very hard to dislodge once it's positioned right. An extra 12 points to also make it into a Hacker actually seems like a decent investment to me, even though I'm usually wary of infiltrating hackers (for some reason). Definitely a model that will find its way into my collection sooner or later.

Finally, the release that I think most people have been clamouring for, the Deva Funtionaries and their Devabots for ALEPH! The two functionaries are both good sculpts although I'm not a big fan of the transforming arm thing. It's a cool concept, but it just doesn't look as good on a model. Perhaps if it was less of a stump and it was the hand only that transformed, I don't know. I do like that all the humanesque shells the ALEPH is using look like they're heading out clubbing at some fancy new livehouse. Perhaps they could join up with the Malignos Hacker! The Devabots look cool as well, variations of the Dakini Tactbot but nicer. The added bulk and the square heads do it for me.

They are an interesting Light Infantry choice in game, similar to the PanO Auxilia but with a lot more utility options. The Sensor option in particular seems nasty combined with ther Willpower of 15! Just send it downfield and spoil your opponents carefully orchestrated camo infiltration plan. With No Wound Incapacitation they're quite tough for light infantry as well, and a Ghost: Synchronised Devabot toting a Heavy Flamethrower following you around is certainly not something to sneeze at. I understand why the ALEPH players are so happy!

Good solid releases this month, and I'm certainly satisfied (even though there was nothing for Yu Jing). My favourite is probably the female Deva Functionary followed by the Dozer, although the Malignos is probably what I'm most excited to actually get to play with. It's nice seeing all the Baggage remotes being done and out of the way now. The few holes left in the Infinity range are slowly but systematically being plugged so I'm looking forward to more sculpts with alternative weapons and more resculpts in the coming months. I think I've mentioned it before but for Yu Jing the Shaolin Monks and Tiger Soldiers are definitely hot canditates for a makeover!